 Use of the astrolabe |
This room contains over one hundred mathematical instruments from the famous Medici collection which was exhibited, from the late sixteenth century up through the mid-eighteenth century, in the "Stanzino delle matematiche" of the Uffizi. In the showcases can be found all of the various types of mathematical instruments that were in use in Renaissance times: astrolabes, sun and nocturnal dials and meridians, instruments for drawing, compasses, theodolites, etc. Striking in their beauty are the carrying cases for the instruments used by engineers, architects and astronomers, and the elaborately worked cases in which the instruments are normally housed. Like the following rooms, this one reveals the Medici's strong interest in scientific collecting, and confirms the importance assumed by the activity of producing sophisticated instruments for measurements and observations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. |